As my one of my brilliant teachers Toby Hecht used to say, “Birds fly, fish swim and human beings tell stories.” Resonance starts with a powerful story. Not any story. But a story about the relevant use of your product in ways that will create an aha-moment in the minds of your audience. Let me… Continue reading
You are ready to discuss an idea with someone important – someone whose actions will have an influence on the outcomes for you. This could be an investor you are courting. Or a potential partner Or a future employee Or a prospect If it is a fresh idea with a lot of risks, there is… Continue reading
Right out of the bat, let me share this quote from Oprah Winfrey even at the risk of giving away the essence of this article Here it goes: Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo… Continue reading
Over the years I have heard a lot of friends about their disappointment (and sometimes, pain) about someone in their network. Somebody in the network did not understand them fully. Somebody didn’t care for them as much as they should have. Somebody said something they should not have said. Somebody said something about them in… Continue reading
You can distinguish yourself in a number of ways. But, if what you do to distinguish yourself is not relevant to the context, then it is pure noise. For example, you decide to stand out by getting on a punk hairstyle. The next day you will get a lot of attention from colleagues at your… Continue reading
Breakthrough is defined as “a sudden, dramatic, and important discovery or development.” A lot of things have to come together for a serious breakthrough to occur. However, here are three barriers to witnessing breakthroughs 1. Lack of heterogeneous networks When your network is homogeneous, there is a good chance that the backgrounds, beliefs, values and… Continue reading
No, I am not talking about the depth of an ocean. What I am referring to is learning. Earlier this year, I wrote about Why Many Smart People Don’t Complete Reading Business Books They Buy. The key concept in the article was that as they progress through a good business book, the commitment required to… Continue reading
I still remember that day. It was early 1994 Kavitha and I were at a Mall in Petaling Jaya in Malaysia. Newly married. New to the country. New role – I was managing a tiny startup under a group that had seven other companies. Everything was new. A really unassuming (but brilliant salesperson) engaged us… Continue reading
Getting even is a funny thing. Someone handed you the short end of the stick. You paid a price. You want to get even. In other words, you want to pay a price for having paid a price. It’s like wanting to pay more taxes because you are paying taxes. Be that as it may,… Continue reading
They say, “failure is the stepping stone of success.” Nice saying. Makes sense – most of the time. Not always. If you are running a marathon and you give up after running hundred meters and say that you were a failure, you don’t get a brownie point for trying. Heck, you don’t even get sympathy… Continue reading